THE EYES OF OUR HEARTS
Susan Murray
Today’s Scripture: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” Matthew 6:22-23, ESV
Theme: What we consistently take in will eventually shape who we become.
EYES
Walking by the toy aisle when shopping with my kids would result in, “Mom, I want that.” They were unaware that toy even existed till they saw it. No person is immune to the effects of seeing things which create desires and shape expectations. What we look at shapes our heart’s wants and loves. The more we look at what we love, the more we love to look. A million things—good and bad—in this world vie for the attention of our eyes.
Bad things, such as pornography, are usually kept hidden in the dark (John 3:19-20). Looking at good things of this earth, blessings and gifts from God, such as money, food, possessions, beauty, strength, success, connection, and sex were created for our pleasure. In their rightful place, they are desires to be enjoyed within God’s boundaries.
DESIRE
In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon speaks at length about desire. In Chapter 2, verse 10, he says; “And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure” (ESV). But he eventually also said that all was vanity. The Hebrew word for vanity is Hevel. This term denotes breath, vapor, or a sense of utter futility and meaningless emptiness. Here for a moment, then gone.
The things on this earth, even good things, are temporary. Beauty fades, money can be lost, strength weakens, family dies, and eventually we die, also. We were created to desire but the problem comes when sin pollutes and our hearts desire the gift of earthly pleasures (what we see) more than God Himself (who we do not see). This leads us to worship created things (idolatry) over the Creator, producing disobedience, emptiness, and darkness.
DARKNESS
When Jesus says in our verse today, “If the light in you is darkness,” I feel confused. How can light be darkness? Jesus is referring to the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18). It’s the distorted way our hearts perceive what we see, a functional heart blindness. Isaiah 5:20 (ESV) states: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" It’s moral blindness, spiritual ignorance with self-deception, yet believing we see rightly. For example: “I'm not greedy, I'm just frugal.”
THE TRUE LIGHT
Yet God did not leave us in darkness. He sent His Son Jesus, who is the light of the world (John 8:12). Jesus’ light reveals the darkness in our hearts, but He did more than that. He removed our unhealthy eyes, giving us His so we could see everything else properly. With our eyes focused on the beauty of our salvation, it can shape us into what God created us to be: sons and daughters living in the joy of our salvation, reflecting His light into a dark world through our faithful obedience.
Make It Personal: What has captured not only your physical eyes but the eyes of your heart? For me, my home is something I look at constantly. Certain imperfections can cause me to lose my peace and become a complainer. I fret over how to resolve it, even to the point of looking at home designs online. I have found that admitting this idolatry to God and turning the eyes of my heart to Him, looking to the eternal, perfect home Jesus bought for me brings me back to peace. 1 Peter 1:12 speaks of the Gospel as something even the angles “long to look” at. Has looking at the Gospel captured your heart's desire? If not, look now.
Pray: Abba Father, I thank You for all the earthly good gifts you have given me. In gratitude, help me shift my eyes from the gifts to You. Forgive me for looking with my eyes to temporal things, both good and bad, to satisfy my heart’s longings. Help me to desire You more than anything this world has to offer. Help me to turn my eyes to You. Amen
Read: Ephesians 1:18; Psalms 34:5; Psalms 119:37; 2 Corinthians 4:18-5:1
Weekly Memory Verse: “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23, ESV